Which to choose, Kings or St Georges?!

[Heselbump]

Hi all

I've recently found out I'm pregnant with baby no1, and struggling to decide which hospital to choose and really hoping you can help by sharing your experiences?! We live exactly in between both Kings College hosp and St Georges, neither is easier to get to than the other. I've heard good and bad of both and just can't decide what to do for the best?! What do you think??

I gave birth at St Georges with my first and thought it was great so will be having my second there in a few weeks. I have found the antenatal care very good, they are also part of the NHS trial to offer the NIPT (harmony) test to patients whose combined test comes back with a high-risk result (not sure if Kings are). In the delivery suite the midwives were lovely. They have a lovely midwife led unit but I couldn't give birth there as I was high-risk, and although I was disappointed I did have a lovely delivery room which was very calm and I could play my own music. I think all hospitals have a slightly less favourable experience in the post-natal ward, but I had a midwife who sat up with me in the middle of the night trying to show me how to express after becoming very stressed about not being able to breast feed.

Kings allow men to stay on the ward overnight, something I found extremely upsetting.

In the morning all the breakfast was gone because the men were taking it for themselves. I felt embarrassed to get some because I had a blood stained nightie on. Also one guy left a huge poo in the toilets which no one cleaned until the morning.

Coming out of the shower I felt extremely vulnerable, naked, bleeding and walking down the ward with strange men I didn't know.

I was given the chance to choose between kings and St Thomas...had appointments at both and throughout I consistently felt that Kings were really poor. Spoke to a colleague who's wife went to kings for her first pg (sadly she miscarried) he too had negative experiences there...personally I would avoid kings like the plague. I'm v happily being looked after at St Thomas's now :)

King's you get the Harmony test anyway. Also you get a third trimester scan and they are very thorough with the scans.

If you are planning to breastfeed, you'll also be offered a lot of support.

Yes, the postnatal ward is a bit depressing but that seems to be true of most postnatal wards! My husband stayed with me after having my first baby and I'm very much glad he did as it was a very traumatic pregnancy so it's a bit of this and that really!

Both hospitals are the same when it comes to the delivery. Postnatal wards are crappy anyway in most hospitals- your aim should be to leave after 24 hours if you are up to it. Personally I prefer kings as the scanning service has really high standards. L

I'm at King's currently and while I don't have any birth stories to offer yet the service so far has been good - the 12 week scan was thorough and the staff were all friendly and reassuring as well as professional. My midwife seems a bit bonkers but is part of a team so I can't comment on the rest of them yet!

I have friends who've given birth at King's and none have reported anything other than excellent care but I suppose it's so dependent on the individual, the particular staff you end up with, your fellow patients if you do spend time on the post-natal ward etc etc...

Hope you're happy whichever you choose! Only thing I would say is King's is extremely busy but can't say I'd expect Thomas' to be any different.

Kings offer the Harmony test if high risk (and medium risk in fact for their research statistics).

I can understand Xxed's bad experience with men on the ward but on the flip side lots of women I know who have given birth there found it very helpful that their partner could stay with them overnight. Although I must admit it didn't occur to us that DH would stay and he went home each night about 9pm to get some sleep!

Kings is a very busy hospital and the post-natal ward is not much fun but I expect they all have the same problem of other ladies snoring and babies crying, unless St George's has the option of private post-natal rooms. But the specialists are some of the best in the world and so it's an amazing place to be if there are complications or something goes wrong.

Have you looked round either? Does one have facilities the other doesn't? That might help with a decision. Eg when I had DD 3 years ago only 2 of the birthing rooms at Kings had pools and one of those was broken so I only had a 10% chance of a water birth which is what I would have ideally liked.

Thank you so much for all your thoughts ladies, it's really helpful. @BadgerFace we went to both at the weekend to try and get a general impression check travel time etc, but neither do visits so you can't check out the actual facilities which is frustrating. I'd love to be able to.

I'm wondering whether we can start at one then move to the other if the experience doesn't seem good? Anyone ever done that?

St Georges is fab!!!!!!!

Ive never given birth there (I was due to but circumstances change) I did have to see a few consultants and a brilliant man by the name of professor basky, whilst I was pregnant with twins in the fetal medicine department. (my twins had TTTS - and unfortunately, they were stillborn- I also had my laser ablation there too) the care I received and just everything about the staff is top notch. It is a really really really good hospital x

I truly can't thank you all enough, it's been so helpful to hear all your experiences, the good and the not so. @doublebubblebubble , I'm so sorry to hear of your complications but thank you so much for your openness to try and help me. I think we might go for st georges! X